NEW TIMESHARE SCAM: A & R Convention
A group of scammers formerly calling themselves A.E.M. Real Estate Company LLC is at it again.in August November they stole money from many people looking to sell their Mayan Resorts timeshare in this tight economy. They have rebranded themselves as A & R Convention and Event Planning Co., Inc. And theyre trying to steal more money from unwitting victims.
Heres the scam:
Someone from A & R Convention and Event Planning Co., Inc. Will cold call people from a list of owners of Mayan Resorts timeshares. He or she will claim to represent a big convention planning company that wants to buy timeshares for big corporate gatherings (or be an agent for some such buyer). They say they have a buyer up front and cash waiting in escrow and all you have to do is sign some paperwork. They might claim that there will be no upfront fees. Once you agree to the sale and send in the forms, then they will try to get you to wire money to some kind of transaction cost like a title search fee or something like that, before the closing.
Before I go any further, THIS IS A TOTAL SCAM. There is no one wanting to buy your timeshare. There are only a cluster of complete lowlifes looking to scam you out of your money. You think you will be paying transaction fees and that you will be getting your money from the sale soon. You wont get any money. There is no sale. There is no business called a&r convention. The name the guy/gal on the phone gave you is fake. Fake fake fake. You are the victim of a con. Someone found you, looking to dump your expensive timeshare, and played on your desperation, and SCAMMED you out of your money.
But, you say, how could this be? They have a nice website. It looks like they have a nice office space, considering the picture on their website. They are pleasant people to talk with who seem to know their stuff. They say they have been in business since 1999. They say they have a Louisiana business license. Theres a telephone number and a fax number with a Louisiana area code.
none of this is real.
IT IS A SCAM SET-UP. All of these things that make it appear that A&R is real, but IT IS NOT!!! Heres how they get you:
1) That nice website? Turns out it has only been up since November 1. Check out the registration information at http://www.networksolutions.com/whois-search/arconventions.com. Very strange for a company thats supposedly been around since 1999. The truth is that anyone can stick together a website with catchy stock photos. That doesnt make the business real.
2) That nice office? Its a virtual office, meaning they DONT WORK THERE (if you can call scamming working). They pay the true owner/lessor for the right to say they work there and collect mail.
In this case, the true owner or lessor is Regus. You can see their listing for the address on their website (http://www.regus.com/products/virtual-offices/index. Aspx). So the scammers pay Regus for this virtual office in the nice building pictured on the website without actually being there. This is important in the scam so that (1) mail you send them doesnt get returned as undeliverable which would tip you off that its a scam and (2) if they claim to have Better Business Bureau credibility (like A.E.M. Real Estate Company did), and someone complains about them, the BBB can confirm that they have an address.
3) Pleasant people who seem knowledgeable? So are all scam artists!
4) In business since 1999? Not true. If this were the case, the company would have a larger footprint. They would have references on their website that are independently verifiable. Not here.
Just some stock photos (Beijing Olympic swimming pool?) and vague corporate-speak. No record of this company doing business at all. A web search turns up only their pathetic website.
5) A Louisiana business license? No. Or they are squatting on some defunct business license of a former company with that same name.
6) But dont they have a telephone and fax number with a Louisiana area code? Yes, but how do you know they are in Louisiana? Using voice over Internet protocol (VOIP), they could be anywhere in the world, and they probably are outside the U.S. Even though you call or fax a Louisiana number, the connection is through the Internet. You arent really speaking with someone in Louisiana!
(P.S. Did they ask you to wire that transaction fee somewhere, like an escrow service or a title
search company in Mexico? How do you know its actually going where they say its going? Really, you are sending your money overseas into the scammers account, and it wont be recovered. Its gone. Your money is gone. They stole it.)
There you have it.
Total scam. Do not send money. Scam scam scam scam scam!
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